I've got a microphone...

Best of 120 Minutes: Yeah, Liar! Liar! I’ll tear your heart out, I’ll kick your ass.

(Settle down, Beavis)

So I went to see Henry Rollins give a spoken word performance on Sunday night. It’s strange that it is called spoken word as that tends to bring up the image of bad poetry readings. I’ve been to those and this wasn’t it. It was Henry Rollins getting on stage, grabbing a microphone and talking for three hours straight. This is something I gladly pay to see.

(One of the coolest things is that when Henry is on stage he grabs the microphone and wraps the cord around his hand in exactly the same manner as if he is fronting a band. I think it is impossible for him to just talk into a stationary microphone. This all adds to the sense of danger and excitement as if there is a possibility that a band will miraculously appear behind him.)

What did he talk about? Well, he started off by talking about how cool Lawrence is and how there isn’t another place like it in the country. I have to agree with him there, it is this island of sensibility and intelligence in the midst of, well, Kansas. True, the coolness has a footprint of about twelve square blocks but it is a pretty sweet twelve blocks.

There was a story about interviewing Christopher Walken for his television show. Apparently Christopher Walken is always Christopher Walken. I don’t think he actually plays any roles, he just speaks like that the entire time. Henry pretty much said it was the worst interview he ever had as he couldn’t stop going, “Dude, it’s Christopher Walken” every five seconds. (I like the fact that Henry admits that he is a sniveling fanboy a lot of the time. Any musician who talks about how in awe he is of other musicians is letting his guard down much more than one would expect.)

He also hit on politics and that is the part that I want to touch upon tonight. He was in Israel and was having lunch with a friend when Condoleeza Rice’s motorcade drove by. Henry being Henry of course ran outside to swear at her and flip her off. As he explained he doesn’t hate her. She is an extremely intelligent and sensible woman. He just hates the fact that she has sold out her beliefs for an administration that lies and he can’t believe that she can sit there and spew forth the talking points knowing that she doesn’t believe in them.

Now I try not to get into politics here mainly because it tends to just upset people. But I’m from Chicago so I’m a democrat by law and that is where most of my political leanings lie. But here is my view on Condi and why I agree with Henry. She got her Masters degree from Notre Dame. She might be the highest ranking government official ever with ND ties. I truly believe that you cannot spend several years on that campus and not have the spirit and ethics of that school placed into your world view. Not everyone takes them on to the same level but it definitely should become a part of your day to day existence. That’s what troubles me about Condi. I’m an ND grad and I have an issue with the government’s policies and I only know what is in the press. She knows what is truly going on. And I really do wonder what is going to happen when she decides to clean her conscience.